I am your typical housewife living in high maintenance suburbia. I have a handsome husband, 2 kids and a flock of pet chickens. I try and feed my family with $100 a month. With the help of coupons, gardening and bartering I am able to squeeze the most out of our grocery budget and still manage to have a little fun along the way.

Bring a large pot of water to boil and cook noodles until al dente. Drain.

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl a large bowl and pour into a 9×13 buttered dish. For the topping, sprinkle 1/2 cup cheddar cheese over the top then add the buttered bread crumbs {bread crumbs with a 1 tablespoon melted butter combined}.

We made Tuna Casserole for the first time earlier in the week. It was amazing!! I totally added peas. In the past, when we would make Tuna Helper, I would always add peas!!! The recipe I made used Cream of Mushroom and milk, but no evaporated milk or mayo. It also had onions, but I might leave those out or reduce how much I put in next time. It used potato chips on top with the cheese. My mom said the recipe was like the one she used to make for us when we were little, apparently I just never remembered eating it. I cant believe I have been using tuna helper all these years when making your own is so easy and good!

I don’t add peas but have been known to add corn. For a different switch my son turned me on to the idea of leaving out the tuna altogether and substituting Chorizo – as he says everything is improved by adding chorizo!

DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Prepare your noodles according to the direction on the packet.
Over a medium heat, pour the olive oil into a pan and saute the onions until tender.
Add the port and simmer until the alcohol evaporates and the remaining liquid has reduced in volume slightly.
Set the pan aside until later.
In a large bowl combine the cooked and drained noodles, condensed soup, sour cream, and mayonnaise.
Add the onions and port mixture to the noodles.
Mix in the mushrooms, peas, tuna, garlic salt, paprika, and parmesan cheese.
Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Pour the mixture into a 9×13 baking dish.
In a sealed quart size Ziploc bag, combine the cheddar, mozzarella, and breadcrumbs.
Spread the cheese and breadcrumbs evenly over top of the dish.
Bake for 40-45 minutes or until lightly browned and the corners are bubbling.
After removing the dish from the oven, allow it to sit for 5 minutes before serving.

I made this for dinner tonight and wowza! The mayo is the secret, isn’t it?? I’ve never heard of it being used in tuna casserole before but I’m not going to use anything else from now on. I used rigatoni noodles (I love trying new pastas!) Instead of egg noodles and I used corn instead of peas. I also just combined everything in the pot that I boiled the noodles in and brought it back up to temp before serving. I just didn’t feel like wasting a dish and the taste was just fabulous anyway. Thanks again!

My hubby didn’t like tuna noodle casserole until he tried this recipe. He said this doesn’t taste like tuna noodle casserole. He loved this. He said no peas in this recipe, it would ruin it in his opinion. This is way better than the one with mushroom soup I used to make. Thanks Mavis!

I just made this with a few exceptions. I added celery and onions, used cream of mushroom and light mayo, used a short pasta that was free instead of egg noodles and I didnt add cheese to the bread topping. THIS WAS AMAZING! Talk about the ultimate comfort food. The best part, I punched it all into myfitnesspal and it was only 375cal per portion so I dont even feel guilty for enjoying it. Thanks for always sharing your wonderful recipes!

Wow! I was raised in a huge family and tuna casserole was one of my least favorite dinners. I can’t stop snacking on this one while waiting for my hubby to get home from work, even thought it has peas, and I hate peas!

A day late. With 4 days of record low temps, I decided to make a tuna casserole the day before you posted this. I,too, like cream of celery for this. I also took 1/4 onion minced and 3 stalks of celery chopped and nuked them for 2 minutes and added this to my pot. My mom always used crushed potato chips on top. All my past potato chips are on my thighs. I added some sour cream, didn’t know to add mayo, but will in the future. We scooped it up right out of the pot, without baking it. It was sooo good. Oh, I added a dash of worchestershire sauce and a shake of garlic powder. I used the colored rotini pasta because I had it, and my egg noodles were too wide.

I just made this tonight! I always just wing it when I make tuna casserole, but LOVED to see a real, family-tested recipe. It has 20 minutes left in the oven, and it smells delicious in here! Thanks, Mavis!

Going to have a tuna casserole bakeoff between the two methods given here. Thank you, Sarah and Mavis, for both of these. I have never thought of making a tuna casserole, but my boys came home from boy scout camp with one they made up. I never could bring myself to try it, as it was of questionable ingredients, but for years they would make their snack of Tuna Goup!

We make tuna pasta bake here in Australia but I would never use canned soup in it. We just make a white sauce – flour, butter and milk with salt and pepper – and add the tuna and any vege additions (peas, corn, onion) then combine with cooked pasta. Top with cheese and bread crumbs and bake. Delish. I’ve never used canned soup in a meal recipe (I tried green bean casserole once – OMG that was one of the most revolting thing I have ever tasted in my life!!)

Sometimes I look at American recipes and am totally grossed out – sweet potato with marshmallows, green bean casserole, almost anything with tinned soup – blechhhh!! Don’t get me started on cornbread with sugar in it!! 🙂